After years of failed negotiations, North-West governors say no more talks with bandits

• North-West governors have ruled out further negotiations with bandits, insisting on unconditional surrender.

• Past peace deals failed to stop violence, with bandits often using talks to regroup and rearm.

• The region is shifting toward stronger security measures and community-based policing strategies.

The governors of Nigeria's North-West recently reached a consensus, stating simply that they have no intentions to continue dialogue with bandits.

At the commissioning of the N12.6 billion Yandaki–Shinkafi–Kofar Sauri Road project in Katsina State, Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu delivered a message on behalf of the region's leadership:

"We will not negotiate with any criminal, nor will we accept any offer from them unless they surrender unconditionally," Aliyu declared, adding that state governments across the region are ramping up investments in security infrastructure and deepening collaboration with security agencies to dismantle bandit networks.

Negotiation has been tried repeatedly in the North-West, and repeatedly, it has not held. As far back as 2016, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kaduna states all adopted dialogue and settlement initiatives, with state governments paying money as compensation to identified bandit leaders in return for peace. 

Negotiations sometimes bought a few quiet weeks for farming and travel, but they did not fix the problem. Analysts who studied the pattern identified a recurring flaw, that in most truce talks, fighters kept their weapons and mobility, turning dialogue into leverage to win safe passage, taxation rights, or space to rearm.

As recently as early 2026, reports of Katsina State initiating the release of 70 suspected bandits as part of a peace deal were circulated, a move that drew fierce criticism. 

Security agencies had repeatedly urged state governments to stop engaging bandits, warning that such moves disrupted military plans and that bandits would return to crime. The Defence Minister had been equally blunt, saying bandits do not respect peace deals and use them as cover to rearm.

The declaration by the governors signals a shift toward community-based security architecture as an alternative to dialogue. 

Aliyu specifically commended Katsina Governor Dikko Umaru Radda for establishing the State Community Guard, a structure Sokoto subsequently adopted after observing its impact. 

The governors are also urging residents to support security efforts by monitoring and reporting suspicious individuals, acknowledging that bandit operations frequently rely on local collaborators.

Peace discussions, negotiations, and amnesty programmes have not ended banditry, but national-level military deployments have equally failed to resolve the crisis. The governors have run out of patience for a strategy that has, by any honest measure, not worked and are seeking to explore a different path forward. 

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